


Snake Charming

by Interrobang



Category: The Midwife Fables
Genre: 'friends kiss sometimes right', F/F, naga's just like 'idk we're just gal pals', while the midwife is literally like...throwing herself at the naga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:48:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Interrobang/pseuds/Interrobang
Summary: The Naga and the Midwife are very good friends-- but perhaps that could change one day.





	Snake Charming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AughtPunk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AughtPunk/gifts).



> If you're unfamiliar with the Midwife Fables by A.A. Freeman, go and look the series up right now!!!! https://aughtpunk.com/the-midwife-and-the-lindworm 
> 
> There's only one out (The Midwife And The Lindworm) so far, but I'm buds with the author and she's gushed to me about so many of her planned stories and characters that I couldn't help but get carried away writing this. 
> 
> (SPOILER) the Naga is related to one of the princesses the Midwife helps, and she and the Midwife are good friends. Who maybe also kiss sometimes-- or at least they SHOULD.

The Midwife had a name, and the Naga had a name, and all the princesses in the Midwife’s Collected Girls had names, but none of them are important for this story, so we’ll let them go for now.

Suffice to say that where once the Naga had been little more than a protective charm for her niece, she was her own person once more, and had taken to living alone very well.

The problem was her guest.

The Midwife would often show up between adventures. She spoke of the new girls in her life, or of her husband, and later of her own daughter. She spoke of loss, and she spoke of love, and with a quick-witted hardiness she spoke of the seasons as they changed. And in this way the Naga marked the passage of time.

There were other ways to mark the passage of time. Scales shed. Hair grown. Gardens gone to seed and stalagmites in her cave home reaching towards the ceiling.

But her favorite was the Midwife. Her hands on the Naga’s own, or her mouth smiling wide and mischievous while telling some anecdote. The Naga catalogued these things away for later, to cherish in the long months between visits.

Occasionally the Naga found herself whiling away the hours doing something resembling pining. It was not the kind of debilitating wasting away that a young maiden would have given in to; after all, the Naga was older, wiser, and had been through heartbreak before. This sort of longing was something based in respect and a desire to learn. There was an earnest kind of admiration in it — but there was more to it, as well.

On one particular visit, the Naga could not help herself: she wrapped her long tail around the Midwife and nuzzled her neck, long tongue flicking out to get a taste of the air around the object of her affection. And, oh, what a smell. Wildflowers and freshly turned earth; handspun fabric, medicinal tinctures. Kindness, and hard times, and perseverance.

The Naga shivered. She released the Midwife with a friendly pat, and went about preparing tea. And when the Midwife was tired from telling long tales of her latest adventures, the Naga made her a bed, and let her sleep. She resolutely did not invite her to share the nest of soft furs and fine clothes that she had hidden away further in her home. She certainly did not kiss the Midwife on the cheek as she slept. That would have been ludicrous.

And when the Midwife left — for another land, another adventure — the Naga remained.

The Midwife had a husband after all, and a child she cared for very much. Clearly there was no place in her life for a sorceress snake-woman that loved too quickly and too fleetingly. They were friends, and that was that.

Except then the husband was lost, and the child was grown. And the Midwife was collecting her Girls, and collecting secrets. And the Midwife struggled to maintain order within her own carefully-organized head, and needed reassurance that there was still hope in the world.

And so the Midwife came to visit the Naga, and the Naga provided as much comfort as she could. Under the difficult circumstances (circumstances regarding matters of the heart that the Naga had thankfully quelled) she was sure that the Midwife needed only a friend, and nothing more. So she would be that friend.

Until the Midwife leaned on her, one night, and asked her to carry her to bed. She was tired of pallets and temporary places to rest, she said. She wanted one night in a real bed, with someone warm next to her. The Naga swallowed thickly. Of course. She missed her husband.

Of course.

The Naga slept curled around the Midwife, soaking in the luxurious body heat of the sturdy woman in her arms. And the Midwife, in turn, settled and rearranged herself in her sleep so that her head was resting on the Naga’s breast. The Naga lay in the dark staring at her ceiling with dread in the pit of her belly, wondering if the Midwife could hear her serpent’s heart pounding away, alarm bells ringing.

When the Naga woke the next morning, the Midwife was still fast asleep, arms thrown about the Naga’s waist. The Naga lazed sleepily in her nest of bedding, slowly blinking away the fog of dreams. They had been _very_ good dreams, she thought wistfully. The Naga never wore much to bed — she had furs and blankets to keep her warm — but the Midwife had fallen asleep in a soft shift, and through the thin fabric the Naga could feel the woman’s full form press against her.

The thought of being so close made the Naga flush a deep crimson. It was far too early in the day to be this flustered, she chastised herself. She needed to calm down. The Naga took a deep breath and then let out a shuddering sigh as the Midwife, face soft in sleep, nuzzled into the Naga’s shoulder.

She looked tender like this. The business-like, frank attitude was all gone from her with a bit of dream to soften her features. Her hair — usually tied up tightly under her cap — was loose and flowing, curling lightly from its usual braids.

The Naga stared wistfully at the woman in her arms. Carefully, with barely a whisper of touch, she tucked on lock of hair behind the Midwife’s ear, then pressed a kiss to her temple.

The Midwife shifted in her sleep, her laugh lines crinkling as she scrunched up her nose at being disturbed.

“Five more minutes…” the Midwife groaned, turning her face into the Naga’s side. “No, ten. An hour. I need another hour.”

“You have Daughters to meet, and I have magics to tend to,” the Naga gently reminded her friend. She leaned into the Midwife’s blanket-wrapped form again, pressing a more insistent, smacking kiss to her forehead. She kissed her cheeks and wrapped her arms around the Midwife, rolling them until the Midwife’s thick-set form was splayed over the Naga’s body and long tail. The Naga happily curled the tip of her tail around the Midwife’s ankle, tickling her just enough that the woman jumped and shrieked, awake at last.

“Enough! You really _are_ a snake, aren’t you? Evil to the last scale of you!” The Midwife laughed and batted away the Naga’s waving fingers.

“What kind of evil sorceress would I be if I didn’t torture my victims?” The Naga said with a laugh. She draped her tail across the Midwife’s lap and lazed against her again. “At least that’s what the village children say. Mmm, you’re warm. Stay a little longer.”

“And whose fault is it I’m awake?” The Midwife groused. Yet she sighed, and relaxed back into the nest of furs and pillows. She kissed the Naga’s cheek, lingering a little longer than necessary. The Naga shivered and pressed closer, ducking her head into the heated space under the Midwife’s jaw.

The naga breathed in deeply the scent of sleep and travel on the Midwife’s skin. Something familiar. Something distant. Something she was loathe to give up.

The Naga flicked her forked tongue out to taste the Midwife’s skin. She kissed the Midwife’s neck, following up until she could meet the Midwife’s lips. She pulled back for a moment. Met the Midwife’s heated gaze. Her eyes were still crusted with sleep. Her hair was still mussed, flowing and curly around her face.

The Midwife pulled her back down, but it was a gentle pull. Tired. Funny how shy she could be, the Naga thought. It certainly didn’t match her usual behavior. She must be missing the Husband something awful, if she was feeling this tender.

But it wasn’t the Naga’s place to ask. Not now, when she had the Midwife in her arms, beautiful and sleepy and willing to give kisses freely.

Instead the Naga sighed into a slow kiss, lazing in the heat of the blankets and the Midwife’s soft body under her hands. The full hips, the round belly, the sturdy arms and her _teeth,_ biting sharp and hot at the Naga’s neck.

The Naga moaned and squeezed the Midwife’s breast over her shift, thumbing a stiff nipple. She coiled her tail around the Midwife’s legs until they were literally tangled together, golden scales against pale legs, bronze skin against well-worn linen.

The Naga groaned as the Midwife took over the kiss.

“Awake at last, hmm?” The Naga said breathlessly, arching her back as the Midwife sucked a mark into her neck.

“Maybe,” the Midwife said noncommittally. “Or maybe I’m still asleep, and having a wonderful dream. I’ve had at least a few like this since the last time I visited.”

“And what of your search for your husband?” the Naga asked. “Would he not be jealous?”

“He likes anybody I like,” the Midwife said with a breathless laugh. “And I like both of you rather a lot.”

—

Later, when the Naga and the Midwife had washed and eaten and dressed, the Naga helped her friend gather her belongings.

“Ah,” the Midwife sighed wistfully. “If only my time here could last longer." 

“You have people to help, and a quest to follow,” the Naga reminded her. “And I’ll be here.”

“Waiting, I know,” the Midwife said with a wry smile. “You should find a hobby.”

“Advising my niece in royal affairs isn’t enough of a hobby?” The Naga raised her eyebrow. “I shudder to think of what _you_ would do if you had any free time.”

The Midwife smiled and shouldered her pack.

“Perhaps I’d take up snake charming.”

**Author's Note:**

> I typically write more NSFW stuff along with my fluff, and you can find out about all that by following me on Twitter @GoInterrobang or on Tumblr @hhgggx!


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